Garsington over,.. and the last time in those beautiful grounds,..I think I actually had genuine emotions when Pippa, Melissa and I finally drove away.

It was a great season, we were very challenged with some of the looks we had to come up with,…but in the end the full-on-ness of Armedia was ( working solidly from 3:30- 9:00) something we really looked forward too,.. and the good humour of the chorus, made it fun.

First up the mens chorus were wigged and face painted then the girls were made up like cupie dolls, and then we changed the boys, and then we painted the boys face’s so they matched their eye-wateringly tight lycra outfits, all the while keeping an eye on principals four of whom had to have dramatic changes,.. kept us busy, but in the end it was something we just laughed about ..and we got left over catering food on those nights – well we treated ourselves because we had to work through our dinner break…it’s funny the things you dread most can sometimes be the things you enjoy most.

I never quite got my head around the music, but my God can Jessica Pratt hit a high note !, and I really liked the look, the wig pictured was for the second act.

The season was running to an end when the designer Christine Allsopp phoned, she was looking for people to do Upstairs Downstairs with her,… in Wales,… hmmm, only two jobs going, but an interview later and she offered them to Pippa and myself, with a promise Melissa could come down on crowd days. Shame to break up the team – but there is always next year at Wormsley.

Christine, Pippa and I went to the read through in London in mid July and were introduced to our artists,.. I am chuffed to bits to be asked to look after Eileen Atkins and Anne Reid.